Sparks in Martinique
by Magical Irish Dolphin
Summary: A little tale on how not-so-ordinary maidservant Angelique Bouchard met nobleman Barnabas Collins in Martinique all those centuries ago, and the moment she loses her heart to him. One-shot.


**Disclaimer:** **Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production and not mine**

* * *

Sparks in Martinique

The day started out seemingly ordinary. Servant girl Angelique Bouchard awoke about two hours before the arrival of dawn as usual. She took her early morning stroll in the woods to collect some herbs, leaves, and other gifts from nature to store up so she could have some ingredients for her potions.

She then went to the beach to let the soft salty breeze caress her features. She relax by the rhythm of the crashing waves on the shore.

Angelique had traveled to many places in her young life, especially since she started practicing witchcraft when she became a young teenage girl. Out of all of her travels, the small island of Martinique was truly paradise.

Angelique bury her toes under the soft sands as the morning sun rise over the serene ocean's horizon. Angelique slip on her shoes, and sprinted over to the DuPres Manor to perform her day of duty.

The DuPres Manor was a glorious four-story Mediterranean mansion, with twenty bedrooms, some washrooms, a kitchen which was always busy with moving bodies bustling about, preparing the day's meals, and a spacious elegant dining room. The Manor also came equipped with a garden, and stables for the horses.

There was much excitement in the Manor that morning. Count Andre DuPres was expecting to welcome a potential business partner all the way from America. A gentleman by the name of Barnabas Collins.

Many of the servants who never seen much of the outside world, and didn't speak English, were intrigued by the soon arrival of this mysterious gentleman.

Angelique had been to America, as well as other places, both within and not of this earth, and speaks fluent English. She was worldly enough to know what to expect from strangers from faraway lands. She expect this Barnabas Collins to be a typical nobleman, only from America.

Even though Angelique, along with her fellow servants, spend much of the morning dusting, scrubbing, and cleaning the whole Manor in preparation over this Mr. Barnabas Collins arrival, Angelique didn't give the-soon-to-arrive guest much thought. When she met one nobleman, she met them all. No matter what country they'd hail from.

Angelique was also warily wise enough on how to survive. She often enjoyed giving out dastardly curses toward anyone who dare got in her way. As of so far, the DuPres family had been very nice and generous to her. Count DuPres had treated her well, while the Countess Natalie DuPres had been wonderfully eccentric with her superstitions and fortunetellings. Angelique found her incredibly amusing.

Then of course there was the luminous Josette DuPres. Angelique thought of her as a lovely young girl who provided good enough company. Josette often confided in the maidservant over her various courtings and other feminine fancies. Angelique considered the young naive noblewoman a friend.

At the moment, the golden-haired witch was temporarily content serving for this wealthy clan, but sooner or later, she would like to explore the world again. She disliked being tied down to one place. But at least for the moment, she was with a family treating her well.

Angelique had enough being the victim of fear and prejudice, but it helped that the DuPres' were oblivious on the true identity of their servant girl. Of course, if they ever found out, Angelique had her devilish ways of dealing with that. Around noon, a black masculine horse carriage importantly arrived on the grounds of the Manor.

Angelique patiently waited in the foyer she scrubbed and polished that morning to meet this Barnabas Collins. Natalie informed her late in the morning that Angelique may be the one who will assist the guest during his stay if he needed it, for Angelique was the only servant who spoke English.

This took the young witch completely off guard. She didn't anticipated this. But she didn't had time to completely react due to finishing up her chores for the guest's arrival.

She was now waiting uncertainly in the sundrenched foyer along with both Count and Countess DuPres, and three other servants. The sound of a drawing carriage, accompanied by the sounds of galloping hooves, rake up Angelique's nerves.

She was not for sure how to feel spending some of her precious time serving some strange nobleman, even though she did that countless times. Why is this instance so different?

The screeching sound of the carriage halting outside made Angelique bounce up a little more alert. Heavy booted footsteps came up to the front doors, followed by a steady rapping. Andre silently gestured for the male servant, Maurice, to answer the door. Maurice strided over to the entrance with great dignity, and welcomely swung open the doors.

There stood Barnabas Collins, dressed in a chic black suit, with black leather boots, and a matching black cape. The Count and Countess warmly welcome their guest at the front entrance, and gestured for him to come inside. Angelique waited to be called to serve the guest.

Andre ordered the servant girl to join them in the center of the foyer. Angelique came up to them, as Andre said, "Mr. Collins, this is our English speaking servant, Angelique Bouchard."

Angelique gave a graceful curtsy complete with a bright smile, and said warmly, "Welcome, Monsieur."

The nobleman gently took the servant girl's hand, and said politely, "I'm honored to meet you, Mademoiselle."

Liquid sea-blue eyes met sophisticated dark ones. Unexpectedly, a little spark flashed between them as he lightly place a kiss upon her hand.

* * *

For the past several days, Angelique served the houseguest in her usual bright cheeriness. When she first met him, she was uncertain on what to make of that flash of spark between them. Monsieur Barnabas had been very polite and gracious toward her, but he was too busy with his business dealings with the Count to spend any quality time with her.

With Mademoiselle Josette being away in Paris, Angelique had no one to confide in over this uncertain spark she inexplicably shared with this gentleman. Whenever she come to serve him, that flash of spark shimmer between them whenever they made first eye contact. If Monsieur Barnabas was equally as mystified as Angelique over this electric tension, he did an admirable job in not showing it. Angelique had her fair share of trysts over the years, and curse many men who dare tried to wrong her. Despite all the unpleasant experiences, Angelique highly believed in love, and wants to live in love, though she made sure to never surface these feelings.

So far, she only found men to have illicit affairs with.

Monsieur Barnabas was indeed a pleasant enough fellow, but he hardly seem to be the kind of man to pursue illicit affairs with servant girls. On her part, Monsieur Barnabas struck Angelique as someone lacking fire and passion. He was someone too absorbed in his high place in society to dwell on true meaning of heat and passion. No, this was not the man for Angelique. He was just another nobleman.

One day, Monsieur Barnabas was heavily dealing with a particular business affair with the Count. He was so absorbed in this, Angelique found him incredibly pompous and arrogant over his continuous ignorance over the continuous spark between them. The servant girl began to flirt with the idea of causing the busy nobleman some discomfort.

Once evening arrived, Angelique retreated on the beach to watch the sunset. As she sat herself down on the soft sands, burying her toes, Angelique lost herself by the beach's tranquility, as calling seagulls flew under the pink and orange sky. Shutting her eyes, Angelique imagine creating a little paper doll and licking it with flame. She smiled crookedly as she further pictured Monsieur Barnabas uncomfortably sweating under his collar.

Before she could gleefully picture on how she could cause even more discomfort on the gentlemanly nobleman, a masculine voice cut through the calm peaceful air.

"Mademoiselle?"

Angelique shot opened her wide eyes, and gazed up. Monsieur Barnabas stood before her, his cape gently billowing against the salty breeze. Angelique grew instantly disconcerted. Not because of Monsieur Barnabas' sudden unexpected presence, but because before his voice cut through the air, the witch began to warm up to the idea of taking his will away from him. Angelique shot up on her bare feet at once, her toes still buried in the soft sands.

As she awkwardly dusted off the sands off her rear, Angelique hastily reminded herself that noblemen don't read minds. Not usually anyway.

"Monsieur," the servant girl murmured apologetically. "Did you try to summon me? Am I required? If so, I apologize for not being present..."

"No, I assure you, Mademoiselle, it's nothing of that sort," Barnabas politely cut her off. "I was merely strolling along on this lovely beach, and I so happened to came upon you."

Angelique bestow him with a pleasant smile, completely relieved.

"Care to join me?" Barnabas invited.

Surprised by this unexpected request, Angelique nodded her acceptance. She quickly slip on her shoes and stroll with the nobleman. They left behind footsteps on the soft sands by the shore.

"I became so absorbed by my business dealings with the Count, I find I haven't had time to explore this lovely paradise," Barnabas ventured as they continued to stroll. "I've been meaning to do that very much."

"Would you like me to show you around the island?" Angelique offered. "After all, I am meant to serve you."

"Oh, I would be delighted if you do," Barnabas said graciously. "I enjoy your company at the Manor."

Angelique smirk as they continued their stroll along the shore. She would not let herself be easily flattered.

"When I came upon you just now," said Barnabas, "were you by any chance meditating?"

Angelique raised her eyebrows in genuine surprised. Barnabas halt her in her tracks, and insisted, "I assure you, Mademoiselle, I mean nothing ghastly by it. I just happened upon many people in my travels who would meditate in tranquil scenery such as this one to relax their minds. I myself tried this many times, and find it quite suitable."

An intrigued smile stretch upon Angelique's mouth.

"Well, I came upon such people in my travels as well, Monsieur," the servant girl stated.

The nobleman raised his brow.

"Really?" he said pleasantly surprised.

"I traveled in some parts of the world before I work for my mistress," Angelique exclaimed.

They spent the rest of the evening discussing their travels. Angelique purposely left out the devilish details of her experiences, naturally. But she became extremely fascinated by Monsieur Barnabas' adventures. She found it intriguing that the nobleman is opened in doing fanciful things such as meditating.

_He is not like all the other noblemen_, the witch thought in wonder.

A couple of hours had passed. Angelique intently listened to the tales of Barnabas Collins' interests. After a while, Angelique sense something very special about this man.

He spoke proudly of his home in Collinsport, a town built and named by his family. He spoke fondly of his mother, Naomi, a little reservedly of his father, Joshua, and adoringly of his little sister, Sarah. He also spoke of his great friendship with his uncle Jeremiah, and how they were going to train one of the servants, Ben Stokes, to read and write.

As they stroll through one of the small villages, an early night-blue sky looked down upon them with the stars and the crescent moon filling up the night.

Angelique smiled warmly to herself. She found she enjoyed hearing Barnabas speak comfortably about himself, and learning about his family. She liked his gallantry, and even found him enchanting.

Angelique decided she was wrong about him when they first met days ago. He was not devoid of heat and passion. Far from it. He returned her to the DuPres grounds.

The stars and the crescent moon shined down upon through the shrouds of darkness. As far as Angelique was concerned, nothing shined as brightly as the sparks flashing in the eyes between the secret witch and the nobleman. This time around, the sparks warm through Angelique's heart and soul.

"I need to wake early," the servant girl murmured to the nobleman.

She became even more mesmerized by the continuous sparks as they stood intimately close under a shadowy tree yards away from the great house.

"Mademoiselle Josette will return tomorrow."

Impulsively, and completely unthinkably, Barnabas Collins roughly grabbed Angelique Bouchard's waist, and drag her into his kiss. As the unexpected kiss deepened, Barnabas took over her with an unexpected yearning and longing, coupled with a slight feeling of confusion.

Angelique became completely off guard. She surrendered to their heat and passion, as their sparks quickly engulfed into a powerful flame. Angelique became consumed by it all.


End file.
